Paleo Chocolate Banana Muffins

 

I have a love-hate relationship with the Texas weather. It was warm and nice last few days... oh yeah 80F in Jan yesterday. Pretty much in my short and flip flop. BUT urrggggg it turned cold last night. Down 20 degree to 60 ish today. 

So here I am at home... bundled up and hibernating. The cold weather just make me lazy and hungry all the time. But no snack at home.. opppsss  ! So I guess I have to make some. Chocolate banana muffin came popping into my head. So here we are... some yummy snack for hubby and me today. 

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/2 cup virgin coconut oil ( or any fats.. I have tried butter and canola oil.  )
1 cup of swerve or honey or any sweetener of choice ( I use swerve)
 ½ tsp sea salt
3/4 cup coconut flour, sifted
1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
3 mashed banana


Instructions
1 Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Beat eggs till forthy. About 3-5 minutes
3. Blend banana, oil and sweetener to eggs.
4. In a separate bowl, combine coconut flour, cocoa powder with baking powder.
5. Whisk this into the egg batter thoroughly, until there are no lumps.
6. Pour into muffin cups and bake at 250F for 25 minutes
7. Remove from pan and cool on rack

~bel~

Paleo Banana Muffins

 

I have to admit that it is hard to find good Paleo recipes for some sweets. They taste so different and not like the " real" thing without the flour and sugar. Its hard to find a good sugar substitute when it comes to baking. I have been baking with honey but decided to try natural sweetener recently. However, most natural sweetener has weird bitter aftertaste. I tried baking chocolate cupcake with stevia and ended up with super bitter cupcakes. I shared my experience with my friend Kristen and she told me Stevia and Chocolate are a NO NO. She told me to use stevia on non chocolate bake only and to use some honey to camouflage the weird bitter after taste. I tried baking a pumpkin bread with stevia and honey.. and urrrrrggggggggg the bitter after taste is still there.

I am so happy when I found Swerve . From what I read, it does not have a bitter after taste. I knew I have to try it ! It did not fail me. The muffins taste so awesome without the weird bitter after taste.

I adapted a  recipe from Maria Nutritious and Delicious Journal to make the banana muffins I substitute banana for pumpkins since we are not a great fan of pumpkins. 

A double thumb up recipe. And yes.. its fluffy and taste like the real thing. The hubby agreed that this is one of the best recipes. I guess it must be good since it passed the hubby's test :)

I do not eat much of my own bake since I do not have sweet tooth. But I ended up with 2 of these last night and one more this morning before my run. So Yummy.

Ingredients: ( My banana muffin version)
1 ½ cups blanched almond flour
 ¼ tsp Celtic sea salt
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground pumpkins spice mix
 2 TBS Coconut Oil
½ cup Swerve ( or honey or other sweetener)
3 large eggs
3 medium mashed banana

Direction:
1. In a mixing bowl combine almond flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.
2. Beat eggs in another bowl till frothy. Add coconut oil , swerve, eggs and pumpkin until smooth.
3. Stir wet ingredients into dry.
4. Grease or place paper liners in muffin tins. Spoon batter into the pan.
4. Bake at 325° for 30-40 minutes.

~bel~

Paleo Irish Soda Bread

 

The traditional Irish Soda Bread is made from just 4 ingredients - Flour, Baking Soda, salt and soured milk ( buttermilk). It is a simple bread that was baked daily to go with meals. 

The search for a good Paleo bread leads to this recipe from Elana's Pantry (<= click). I made a few modification to the recipe. I omitted the raisins and caraway seeds for the simple reason "If your "soda bread" has raisins, it's not "soda bread!  It's called "Spotted Dog" or "Railway Cake"!  If it contains raisins, eggs, baking powder, sugar or shortening, it's called "cake", not "bread."  All are tasty, but not traditional Irish Soda Bread!"

This is a real simple bread. Easy to bake and yet very tasty. The hubby and I agreed that this is probably the best paleo bread we ever bake.

Ingredients ( my adapted version)

2 ¾ cups blanched almond flour
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
2 eggs
2 tablespoons agave nectar or honey
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Direction
1. In a large bowl combine almond flour, salt and baking soda
2. In a smaller bowl combine eggs, agave and apple cider vinegar
3.  Mix wet ingredients into dry Place dough on a piece of parchment paper and form dough into a large, flat circle that is 8 inches across and 1 ½ inches tall
4.  Using a serrated knife, score top of dough about an inch and a half an inch deep in shape of a cross
5. Transfer dough and parchment to a baking sheet
6. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes, then turn off oven and leave bread in for 10 more minutes.

~bel~

Paleo (Vegan) Chocolate Cookies with hint of Baileys

 

Its raining ! The hubby and I are both snuggled up at home.....both hungry and yet not wanting to drive out to get something to eat. 

I told the hubby that I want to bake something but do not know what. "Chocolate chip Cookies" came the answer.... and so this started the fanatic search for a cookie recipe. I found a double chocolate cookies recipe at Against All Grains and decided to adapt it to the ingredients I have at home.

I saw our bottle of Baileys sitting at the kitchen counter when I was mixing the ingredients and the thought creep into my head. " what do you think of Baileys in the cookies"... I asked the hubby. " Yeah.. why not" came the reply... and so Baileys was added to the dough :)

This is one of the better Paleo or vegan cookies recipes.. hint of Baileys is always good. It has the stamp of approval from the hubby... so it must be good:)

Ingredients( My adapted version)

2 cups blanched almond flour
2 tablespoons coconut flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
 1/2 cup ghee or coconut oil , melted
 1/2 cup of honey (or similar sweetener of choice)
 2 tablespoon Baileys (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine remaining dry ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Combine wet ingredients in a small bowl.
4. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients ( except Baileys) and combined
5. Mixed in the Baileys ( if using)
 6. Use a small cookie dough scoop or form into 1/2 inch balls and place on a parchment paper (or Silpat) lined cookie sheet.
5.  Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes.
6. Let them cool on the pan for a few minutes before removing so they set – otherwise they will be too soft and may fall apart.

No Bean Chili

 

Bbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..... and what we need is another chili night.  The hubby made this on Saturday from a recipe from Allrecipe. This is an easy recipe but really yummy. We ate it with some hot dog. It made good leftover too. We  have hervos racheous with it today for breakfast....so good.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin 1
 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup red wine vinegar

( we use a pound of beef and a pound of turkey and doubled the ingredients accordingly)

Direction:
1. Crumble the ground beef into a stock pot or large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
2. Add the onion and garlic, and cook stirring frequently until beef is evenly browned. Drain off excess grease. Season with chili powder, oregano, cumin and hot sauce.
3. Stir in the tomatoes and vinegar.
4. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, and simmer for about 1 hour - or longer if you have time. Stir occasionally to prevent burning on the bottom.